Our walk today was dedicated in honor of:
Army SGT John M. Penich, Age 25 of Beach Park, IL.
KIA Oct. 16, 2008 Operation Enduring Freedom
assigned to the 1st Battalion, 26th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, Fort Hood, Texas
restepi, Viper squad leader
Bronze star, Bronze star with oak leaf cluster, silver star
After witnessing the 2001 terror attacks, John M. Penich told his family he wanted to serve his country. But his career took a detour managing a hotel, a banquet hall and then a nightclub before enlisting.
Penich enjoyed the outdoors, especially hunting, mountain biking, riding four-wheelers and Harleys, and playing paintball.
When sending care packages to him in Afghanistan, Jeff said his brother used to ask for things for his fellow soldiers.
“It was never ‘I would like this.’ Never, ‘I want this.’ It was always, ‘What can I get for my guys?’ He always put everyone before himself, including his country,” Jeff said.
It was a great honor to walk 11.21 miles with Army SGT John M. Penich. We started out by walking Northside Drive and then we went south on 127. We made a stop in at the Veterans Memorial Park and read some names of our Fallen Brothers on the Memorial Wall. We then continued south and and then crossed over to West Ave and then headed back towards the house. We had a great walk. Everyone was honking today, it was so amazing. I want to thank everyone who honked, waved, and saluted in helping us honor this hero. We had 706 honks today. It was great. I also want to thank PV2 Joshua Dommes for joining us on our walk and helping us honor this hero.
Army SGT John M. Penich will not be forgotten !
